Distance
by Yeshterday
Summary: When Kawahira approached him on a stormy day six years after the Arcobaleno Battles, Tsunayoshi was not expecting to be told to infiltrate his own families past.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn is not mine. It is Akira Amano's.

* * *

Rain pounded the window, the sky was clouded and dark gray. The forest creaked with the howling wind as Tsuna sat on the sofa of his office. The walls were lined with bookcases, a large wooden desk sat in front of the windows, and a small coffee table and two red and brown lounges were in the middle of the room. Tsunayoshi was normally in bed this late at night, but his intuition was calling him, telling him that a visitor would be stopping by. For what, he did not know, who however he could sense the flames approaching the room. They were unique and individual as fingerprints. As the mist flames died off and Tsuna sat the book he was reading down on the table and looked up to see Kawahira sitting across from him. Nothing was out of place with the man of course foregoing the bowl of ramen missing from his hands.

But Kawahira was not a regular visitor at the mansion in Italy. He was never a visitor. The man preferred to stay away from humans, after all it was the reason he and Sepira went their separate ways over a century ago. It had been six years since the Arcobaleno conflict, since the curse had been sealed away, they had never spoken about Mafia matters again. They had barely even spoken besides an occasional greeting when they met through I-Pin. So it was a mystery why the alien man had suddenly dropped by. "Hello, Kawahira. I take it you are doing well," Tsuna welcomed him in a friendly manner, it however was mainly an invitation for the man to explain himself.

The elders face remained expressionless, but the pressure of the situation was felt in the air of the room. "Hello Tsunayoshi, my apologies for disturbing you and your family this late at night," True to his words, Reborn's, Gokudera's and Yamamoto's signature could be felt in the immediate area. They would not listen in but it was their duty to protect their boss and friend if the need presented itself. Ryohei would be in the family sleeping quarters with Hana. Hibari and Chrome were currently in Japan, as was Lambo and I-pin. Mukuro's location remained privy to only Chrome and their Kyokuyo gang. Decimo nodded in acknowledgement, urging him to continue. "I did not come here for the small talk as I am sure you are aware. I have come to seek your help." Tsuna sat up straighter in curiosity. Help was not the word he would think Kawahira to use. Assistance. Cooperation. Service even. Help had the connotations need and weakness, attributions he did not associate with the other man.

"I am aging. Non human I may be, but powers are weakening. My race is strong however and while my daughter will continue in my steps, she is young, inexperienced and half human. As I try to call upon my memories, to train her, I am encountering inconsistency. Since the Daemon affair, I have research the beginning era of the human succession of the Tri-ni-set and I am finding myself with multiple versions of one event, not just in books but my mind. History is rewriting itself, and parallel worlds are merging with each other," Their stares were tense and unmoving, Kawahira had yet to explain his want of Tsuna "But this is clear speculation. The Tri-ni-set's power is beyond human understand. And now with my age it is exceeding my own. There is no way for me to know. That is why I have come for your help, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Within everything here is a corresponding three month period, at which these events are taking place. I would like you to travel to this time, investigate and resolve this issue first hand, the past Vongola appears to be at the heart of the disturbance."

The Vongola boss was quiet at first when Kawahira had finished, deep in thought. Kawahira could not truly prove his speculation. Books may contradict but that was not uncommon. Of course Kawahira must have in counted extreme examples for this along with his changing memories to approach him. Tsuna would once again be forced to make decision based solely on his intuition. Not only that, travel to the past was dangerous, he could possibly cause more harm and his own family would be weakened by his disappearance. "If you do not mind, I would like to confer with my Storm guardian?" The elder offered no resistance as Tsuna rose, silently stepping out of the room and down the corridor towards one of the many sitting rooms in the mansion. As expected he found his storm, rain and tutor present. They too remained quiet seeing Tsuna's thoughtful expression. "Gokudera, if you do not mind I need you at this meeting,"

With a nod, the Storm stood, following back to the office were Kawahira had not moved an inch. Tsuna retook his seat, Gokudera sat beside his boss, and with no explanation towards his guardian he began speaking " Kawahira, I will undertake this. I believe it threatens this family, nevertheless, I must protect it from the current time also. Gokudera, as my right hand man, will help oversee operations and research acting on my part in my absence. He will be allowed exact information, along with my main technician Shouichi who will build the travelling devise as he has experience in this area. My other Guardians and my tutor Reborn are also to know of my absence but will not be give precise information of my location, but if at anytime myself or Gokudera deems it unsafe to continue they will be told and arrangements will be made to bring me back. Well these are the provisional agreements, but I would like to discuss this further, with Gokudera present. My storm too has extensive knowledge of European and Asian history which could offer an additional insight into the problem,"

It seemed as Kawahira saw this coming. Gokudera's face remained hard and emotionless, showing nothing. Tsuna knew his friend must have been confused but Gokudera handled thing well now. He had been able to balance out his anger and genius to become a reliable right hand man who Tsuna trusted, as he did all his guardians, with his life.

* * *

He went to Shouichi again. The halls underground were bleach white, quiet and empty save his footsteps the echoed from the hard floor as he briskly walked towards the engineers design room. The red haired did own a bedroom, but crises or not he would normally be found asleep amongst his work in the morning. Tsuna didn't knock, he could hear the light snoring from the inside and as predicted he was slumped over in a pile of paper, glasses crooked. "Shouichi," The boss laughed, "You should start sleeping in your bed,"

Flinching violently at the sudden noise, Shouichi sat up dead straight blinking with a confused look on his face up at his boss, "Ah Tsunayoshi-kun, Good Morning," he groaned rubbing his eyes using the back of his hand, before rising, wandering off into the adjoining bathroom to brush his teeth were he did most mornings.

Tsuna followed leaning on the door frame as he wait for the man to finish, observing the room. Plans of what he knew was a crazy new invention laid in multiple piles around the room. A few, of what appeared to be finished, pieces that had been dropped over by Spanner or Giannini were in the corners for collaborative testing, and Shouichi own worked on machines in the organised mess. A desk covered with computers occupied most of the space in the room. The three engineers still remained focus on their main areas of study, Tsuna had asked much of the extent of Shouichi's work which still focused mainly on time travel. Not because of lack of interest, but the complexity of the theories. He may have been much better than his was in middle school, but he didn't become a genius. Because of that he let Gokudera deal with detailed management of the engineering work, Tsuna only requested knowledge on what they had hoped to build or achieve for each as the final product for experiments. Reborn too, considering his love of Math, was usually quite up-to-date with the progress of the work. Shouchi stepped out of the bathroom from rubbing dry his face with a towel, apparently far more awake then he was a minute ago, "What can I help you with?" He question sitting down in a computer chair, as Tsuna took a seat in his own.

"I have another request for you," he started, smiling in an attempt to keep Shouichi calm. It was apparent it was failing as the other face was turning white, "I'm sure your time travel research to the past is going well, so I need to put it to some use. Gokudera informs me that you have had success with lab rats returns"

As expected, the redhead moaned clutching his stomach, "Lab rats are only the very beginning. We need to test on other animals. From what I presume you are inferring, the work is still far off being tested on humans, let alone the boss of Vongola," he locked eyes with Tsuna in defiance knowing a 'no' would not make the other back down. "I will not have the guardians tearing me limb from limb over me scattering you're molecules across time. The current risk of failure is enormous,"

"I know Shouichi," Tsuna sighed running his hand through his hair. He had not even given the smallest of details and he was meeting resistance, "But you know I would ask if it wasn't imperative. You have time before I must embark, Gokudera is coming now with finer details. Nevertheless I need an agreement to commitment from you beforehand, I must take this mission,"

Exhaling, Shouichi knew it was true. Vongola had asked for nothing beside the protective design of the base from his current self and the other mechanics work wise. They were given free rein of their work, all of which benefited Vongola and of course was monitored by Gokudera but they had yet to interfer. They had all work on piece by their own will for Vongola, believing in Tsunayoshi's dream of peace. If it was another man, Shouichi would have doubted the words but the sky across from him never lied. He was left with no choice but to agree even with all his reservation. Tsuna was after all once again willing to put his life in his hands. When Gokudera arrived, with Kawahira at his side, the request got worse. To isolate a specific time and date almost two centuries ago was seemingly impossible, let alone the unstable time periods the Kawahira was describing and on top the machine would be powered solely by Tsunayoshi's sky flames. It was insanity. If they disrupted a time, no matter what Tsuna could be trapped, and them left in a closed era, they would have no future or past. They would only stagnantly drift in time. And he could not even factor in the Tri-ni-set into the picture. Arcobaleno flames were sealed, and mare rings trapped in the past.

"If we fail to act, time is doomed either way," Tsuna said rising from his seat, "And this may sound incredibly selfish, but I can offer no more insight into the work, and at this point neither can Kawahira. Gokudera, Shouichi, I trust you to work it out. We have a month until I move," Turning he left the room, striding back out. He had every faith that they could work it out. Kawahira had followed with him a question seemed to hang in the air unvoiced by Kawahira.

* * *

Kawahira had left swiftly after. Interaction still was not his strong point. He would be staying on the Vongola's land in his own house a couple of kilometers from the main mansion. Tsuna had his daily work load, and Gokudera's to finish. At lunch he met a haggard and tired looking Gokudera, who explained they were already encountering the expected difficulties even within the first initial basic planning stage and Shouichi was already unable to remove himself from his work. As the other Guardians and Reborn arrived on the dot they already knew that motions for a large mission were being put in place, the tension in the house was unmissable, they were not surprised to find that Tsuna would like to speak to them after the meal.

But the dining table was a strictly no work area, and when Tsuna sat in his seat, surrounded by his family he had no doubt of what he was protecting. Yamamoto chattered happily to Ryohei about the latest baseball game, while Hana and Gokudera, who got on surprisingly well might he add, discussed the book they had both finished reading. It was a peace and family he had a fought to save many times. And he would love unconditionally.

Reborn sat elegantly in his chair, coffee in hand and a smirk on his face as a teasing comment slipped from his lips.

* * *

Gokudera would be the only one to know the exact details of the situation besides the bespectacled red haired. Gokudera would take care of the family in his place as he is the right hand man. Hibari's the strongest, Tsuna couldn't afford to distract him if he was away, not just from Italy or Japan, but away from the inter time period. It was too big of a risk to pull him in multiple directions with the pressure of conversing with other people. Additionally Mukuro would step in if need be in place of Chrome's usual presence as the seen mist guardian if something else was needed from Chrome. Ryohei was attention was needed at home, he was the sun, he was necessary if anyone got gravely injured. Yamamoto would stand by Gokudera's side, left hand moved to the right side, and Ryohei as left hand. Reborn, he was a possibility but in all of Gokudera's brains, Yamamoto's intuition and Ryohei's ever present dying will, he could help them. None of them were the boss however, there would be things they don't understand, couldn't reason with, and Reborn would step in. Reborn also had his own duties as a hitman though he had officially unofficially joined the family when Tsuna completed his first year as boss. Lambo was out of the question, he was just far too young.

Tsuna still held onto his resolve to protect and change the Mafia world but many families had resisted this, and peace talks were rarely peaceful themselves. Sometimes, there were attacks on his family, he had continued to train and get stronger. Much much stronger mentally, and much stronger physically. At 16 he finally triggered his hyper intuition to be permanently unlocked, it was of course still strong in hyper dying will mode but it was far more than what it was when he was 14. When it happened, he could actually feel it snap inside of him. Reborn was shocked by the flames which had pulsated off him in the faction of a second, but afterwards the telltale smirk would show he was proud of his pupil as Tsunayoshi laid exhausted on the ground fight to regain normal breathing. Reborn was so pleased with him that Tsuna was allowed to sleep in the next morning. His guardians too were ecstatic, and breakfast were more over the top then ever. Nevertheless, the ability was trying and tiring. There was amplified warning over the smallest things from Lambo tripping over, to a glass in the kitchen breaking. It boarded the line betweens intuition and paranoia. It would takes months for him to be able to tell the difference between a shot being fired at a guardian and a shot hitting a guardian.

So the night before the deadline when Gokudera and Shouichi had approached him, saying their work was finished he laid in bed awake needlessly. Not worried about his intuition signally trouble. Not happy for it to be signally positively.

He was worried about the complete lack of feeling.

* * *

Thankyou for reading please comment, and follow and favourite if you liked it. Any question please feel free to ask.

Authors note. long af. not a necessary read.

 _I have chosen 182 years ago. Why 182 years? Because apparently Tsuna is Giotto's great great great grandson. Which means from Giotto, Tsuna is the 7th generation of that's family. Let's say it was 26years between parent and child, (which it probably would give people had kids at like 18 in my grandparents generation and Nana was 20 when she had Tsuna) 26X7=182 and that's what I'm going with as it puts in use nicely in 1830's (as of 2016). Even though this isn't right because Primo is like 24 so like you need to like change for that but meh. I like 1834 as a date. Why do I like 1834? Charles Darwin was doing mad cool science on the HMS Beagle + Dmitri Mendeleev was born and Russian Scientists are my favourite._

 _Additionally in 1830 uprising in the Italian Peninsula called for Unification, they were ultimately crushed but ideals remained. Therefore in 1834 the Young Italy movement were making moves towards a United Italian Republic but after some members were executed and the_ _Mazzinian revolt failed in 1834 they disappeared_ _off to England and then 14 years later the Roman Republic was crushed by French soldiers which means that during this time there was plenty of conflict in the nation, giving Giotto's motivations and past meaning. Also the movement of people in Europe allows sense for Alaude to be in Italy.(Asari on the other hand makes little sense but he doesn't make any sense no matter what year really. Like he might have left Japan on a Dutch ship but his clothing doesn't suit any reasonable era) Plus if Young Italy were pro unification I know that at least in Germany by Bismarck it was a great move. Idk about the rest of the world however. Well I presume that in 1860's Italy Unified it was good for them too. My area of study was 18th-20th century Germany and Russia 19th century-20th century._

 _I tried to date it by the style of Elena's dress but that came up inconclusive. The only thing to go off really was the sleeves and neckline but it was like 1802 ish styled kinda but that's way too early considering my chosen date too is early._

 _ **TL:DR there was a whole bunch of shit happening in Italy that makes sense for Giotto and Vongola to be involved with/affect them therefore the time is 1834.**_


End file.
